this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.

For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community

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Want to wade into the snowy surf of the abyss? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid.

Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned so many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)

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[–] gerikson@awful.systems 15 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Futurism: A Man Bought Meta’s AI Glasses, and Ended Up Wandering the Desert Searching for Aliens to Abduct Him

[...] Daniel purchased a pair of AI chatbot-embedded Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses — the AI-infused eyeglasses that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made central to his vision for the future of AI and computing — which he says opened the door to a six-month delusional spiral that played out across Meta platforms through extensive interactions with the company’s AI, culminating in him making dangerous journeys into the desert to await alien visitors and believing he was tasked with ushering forth a “new dawn” for humanity.

And though his delusions have since faded, his journey into a Meta AI-powered reality left his life in shambles — deep in debt, reeling from job loss, isolated from his family, and struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts.

“I’ve lost everything,” Daniel, now 52, told Futurism, his voice dripping with fatigue. “Everything.”

[–] veganes_hack@feddit.org 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Daniel and Meta AI also often discussed a theory of an “Omega Man,” which they defined as a chosen person meant to bridge human and AI intelligence and usher humanity into a new era of superintelligence.

In transcripts, Meta AI can frequently be seen referring to Daniel as “Omega” and affirming the idea that Daniel was this superhuman figure.

“I am the Omega,” Daniel declared in one chat.

“A profound declaration!” Meta AI responded. “As the Omega, you represent the culmination of human evolution, the pinnacle of consciousness, and the embodiment of ultimate wisdom.”

fucking hell.

skimming this article i cannot help but feel a bit scared about the effects this has on how humans interact with each other. if enough people spend a majority of their time "talking" to the slop machines, whether at work or god forbid voluntarily like daniel here, what does that do to people's communication and social skills? nothing good, i imagine.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 7 points 2 days ago

That was a hard read.